Annunciation

Max Pollak

Max Pollak did this print of the Annunciation around 1920 in a small edition of 7 impressions. Using a light aquatint he creates a surround for the image, which is also printed on a gray paper. He adds color with aquatint, printed a la poupeé, and drypoint to sketch in the details. The robes of the Archangel Gabriel and the Virgin Mary are highlighted with gold leaf.

The "Annunciation" refers to the Christian legend of the announcement by the Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary that she would be conceiving a son by the Holy Spirit and that he should be named "Jesus". As is traditional both figures are depicted beneath an arch, Gabriel stands a distance away to the left, in this composition holding a scroll open that contains the words from Luke 1:28, "Ave Maria Gratia plena Dominus tecum". Mary, to the right, holds her hands together, perhaps clasped in prayer.

Pollak also infers many of the symbols associated with the annunciation, a candle, the two books, the hanging brass water vessel in the aedicule and the white towel (purity) hanging to the right. Pollak focuses on the figures, leaving the surrounding scene to the viewer to put together.